[ome-devel] OME 2.2.0 Release Announcement

[Ilya Goldberg]

Hello OME fans!

As promised (though a little late) we've released OME 2.2.0 today.

This milestone release is meant to serve as a fully functional image 
repository, search, browsing and retrieval system.  Focusing on these 
priorities has for the first time allowed us to release a version of 
OME that is no longer a mere "proof of concept", but is targeted at 
end-users for everyday use.

There is a great deal of information about OME and about this release 
in particular here:
http://docs.openmicroscopy.org.uk/

The software itself can be downloaded here:
http://cvs.openmicroscopy.org.uk/

This release has the following significant features:

* Full re-write of Database access logic and object-relational mapping 
scheme
	- Database access is now done through delegates, allowing support for 
multiple databases
	- PostgreSQL is still the only DB actually supported
	- Oracle port should now be very straight forward

* Rewrite of remote framework for access by "thick" clients
	- High-level access to the OME API through XMLRPC.

* First version of a remote Java client and agent framework (Shoola)
	- 5-D image viewer with sophisticated rendering capabilities
	- Dataset browser for rapid viewing of image collections

* Rewrite of the Web user interface server (Marino)
	- Generic browsing and layout of arbitrary Semantic Types
	- Easy customization of Semantic Type rendering using html templates.
	- Image/Dataset/Project search
	- Browse OME's data dependencies.

* New OME Image Server
	- Acts as an independent image repository
	- Maintains both original source files and raw image data
	- Simple interface to stream raw pixel data from acquisition systems
	- Optimized for rapid serving of images and pixel data
	- Can be deployed on a machine separate from the OME back-end

* Update logic.  Database and software easily updated in-place.

* A comprehensive installer for the entire system.

* And many more!

Please be aware that work on OME 2.2 is continuing.  We will continue 
to improve this release over the next two months.  Update to the system 
and its client available at our download site:
http://cvs.openmicroscopy.org.uk

Work is now under way towards the next milestone due this fall:  
OME2.4, an integrated image analysis system, and validation of OME as a 
cell-based screening platform.

Enjoy!

The OME Development Team